Download Movies from streaming services

[MamaG]

Hello. Has anyone downloaded movies or shows from streaming services to your tablet/phone to watch onboard? I was just thinking that might be a good idea if we hit bad weather or can't make a port or something. I'm not paying for the streaming voom onboard. This way there's another option to whatever is on TV. 

[Ampurp85]

I have done this, not just for cruises but plane rides. The TV on RCG is pretty garbage. You won't find much to watch unless you are staying in a suite or paying $11.99 each to watch on-demand movies. 

[Zacharius]

I pretty much live on planes and, while I sometimes have to do work on planes, I much prefer just zoning out and watching TV. So yes, absolutely, I am constantly downloading TV shows and movies (or games if I missed watching them live) to my iPad and watching them on planes. We have done it once or twice on ships too, and cars. But doesn't matter, it's all the same thing. Keep in mind not every movie/tv show is available for download in most cases. 

[MamaG]

Thanks to you both. I think I'm definitely going to load up my tablet in case. 

[MuttMutt]

I used to use software on my computer to save tv shows and movies. I have a ton now and usually keep about 50 movies on my tablet at all times.  On the ship I bring my Raspberry pi 4 with a controller to play games and need to pick up something to store movies on because it has Kodi installed as well so I can watch movies on the TV as well. They are tough to find right now but well worth having on long trips IMHO just need to search for some presetup image files to write to a micro sd card of the appropriate size and you are good to go. Most of the emulators are retro like Nintendo or Sega systems and sometimes will have as new as Nintendo 64 but it doesn't work very well. Pair it with a wired Playstation 3 controller and if you have kids or are a kid at heart is hard to beat when you have some downtime. 

[YOLO]

@MuttMutt  Have you ever tried connecting a USB drive or a HDMI media server (like your raspberry pi, NAS, etc) directly to a TV in a royal room?  Can you play movies that way?  Any ideas on how to do this?

[SpicyCherry]

19 hours ago, YOLO said:

@MuttMutt  Have you ever tried connecting a USB drive or a HDMI media server (like your raspberry pi, NAS, etc) directly to a TV in a royal room?  Can you play movies that way?  Any ideas on how to do this?

I am interested in the answer to your question too. I plan on trying this very thing on my next cruise!!

[Peter D]

I am pretty certain that the Samsung TVs in the rooms are set to "hotel hospitality mode" which disables the HDMI inputs, which would like mean the media server would not work.  I have never tried the USB drive option, but I have doubts that works either.   

[Chris Fish]

my experience in the past is no hdmi ports or they are set not to work. I'm sure they want everyone to pay for the ships movies.

[JimnKathy]

I download favorite podcasts to my phone, but tv/movies on a cruise?...not so much. We're too busy having fun from dawn to dusk to find a few hours staring at a small screen. 

[YOLO]

For those who are interested, here are two short YouTube tutorials which explain that in most cases a cheap universal remote will do the trick to enable the ship's HDMI port...

 

[MuttMutt]

22 hours ago, YOLO said:

@MuttMutt  Have you ever tried connecting a USB drive or a HDMI media server (like your raspberry pi, NAS, etc) directly to a TV in a royal room?  Can you play movies that way?  Any ideas on how to do this?

If you have a raspberry pi with something like Kodi installed with a thumb drive plugged into the raspberry pi and the pi hooked to the TV via HDMI i don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Just make sure the TV output from the pi is set to automatically output the correct resolution. But can you directly output to the TV and play stuff on them. No. I don't think you can. But using a raspberry pi is very easy to setup and will work on just about any TV. 

[Reb]

I downloaded several Netflix movies and shows on my IPad before our cruise.  It worked well without ordering the streaming service.

[Linda R]

We have downloaded shows and movies on a scan disc.  Small to carry, and most cruises we have been on you can just plug it in directly to back of TV. No issues at all.  

It might not be possible to do this on older ships unless they have been updated and renovated rooms, but we haven't found that yet.   It is good for a day or evening you just want to relax and rest.   

[YOLO]

9 hours ago, MuttMutt said:

If you have a raspberry pi with something like Kodi installed with a thumb drive plugged into the raspberry pi and the pi hooked to the TV via HDMI i don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Just make sure the TV output from the pi is set to automatically output the correct resolution. But can you directly output to the TV and play stuff on them. No. I don't think you can. But using a raspberry pi is very easy to setup and will work on just about any TV. 

Your Raspberry PI idea sounds great.  Nice and compact - no tablet/laptop needed.  Can you recommend one?  Instead of a USB thumb drive I am guessing I could use a USB SSD drive like this 2TB one.  What do you think?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0874XWW23

[YOLO]

5 hours ago, Linda R said:

We have downloaded shows and movies on a scan disc.  Small to carry, and most cruises we have been on you can just plug it in directly to back of TV. No issues at all.  

What is a scan disc and how do they work?

[mac66]

I loaded up my tablet with TV shows/movies from Netflix and Prime for my 12 day cruise. Never took it out of my suitcase. Was never in the cabin long enough to watch even one.  .  Watched an in flight movie on the plane on the way down so didn't use it then either.

[ellcee]

I always download a few on my kindle fire just in case. It's nice to have a movie or a show to fall back on before bed. 

[CrimsonCruiser]

I've done it less for on the ship and more for the flights to and fro or in the hotel room before, but they work well and it's nice not to have to worry about thinking about something to watch.

[YOLO]

Agree that movies on a tablet (even a phone) are nice for flying, or to kill time when stuck somewhere.  Onboard in our room we like watching when getting ready for drinks/dinners/shows.  And sometimes at the end of the night to fall asleep to.  The idea here is to be able to watch our content off-line, so that wifi & internet aren't needed.

[MuttMutt]

8 hours ago, YOLO said:

Your Raspberry PI idea sounds great.  Nice and compact - no tablet/laptop needed.  Can you recommend one?  Instead of a USB thumb drive I am guessing I could use a USB SSD drive like this 2TB one.  What do you think?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0874XWW23

I mean you should be able to.  Basically anything that can plug in via USB and turn on should be accessible.  Personally I wouldn't pay that much for a drive so I would look at just getting a bare drive and a case but you can do what you want.  2TB is a TON of movies as well, I have about 5.4 TB of movies on my server and that ends up being around 2700 movies.  So that is around 2 GB per movie on average, a 512GB drive once formatted will hold around 200 movies.  If you need more than that on a week long trip you should probably just stay at home IMHO but the choice is yours. 

https://www.electromaker.io/tutorial/blog/how-to-build-kodi-raspberry-pi-media-center gives you some stuff you can look at on how to set a Raspberry PI up.  You will probably want to pick up a complete unit that comes with a case and memory card.  The MicroSD card is mainly for the OS and a few things you may want to throw on there.  I actually use a 256GB MicroSD card and have Retropie installed as I mainly use it for games emulation but KODI is installed so I can also watch movies.  The more stuff you want to put on the MicroSD card the bigger it needs to be, however a 64GB one should allow you to install something to just watch movies.  This raspberry pi kit is similar to what I am using and it comes with a 128GB MicroSD card.  The kits are WAY overpriced right now as they are also being hit by the chip shortage.  Adafruit was talking about having them available for MSRP and was limiting people to only being able to purchase one at a time and they have a bunch of hoops to jump through so that bots can't buy them all but they still don't have any in stock so good luck there.  

KODI will probably want the files to be in MP4 extension, H264 codec with AAC audio.  If you don't know what that means you will need to look it up.  Can it play other stuff, possibly but there are a ton of things it won't do well.  I say that so when you grab the H265 encoded file and it doesn't work you will understand why.  I do not know what codecs it will support either but the MP4's in H264 with AAC audio seems to be universal.  In this case saving space on a drive will just come around and bite you in the BUTT.  I say this with a lot of experience using PlexMediaServer and seeing all the issues people have trying to save a few nickels on drives in some cheap little NAS box by encoding to H265 only to have their devices unable to play the file and the server being so underpowered they can't transcode them and other people throwing graphics cards into machines to transcode but spend cash on electricity they didn't need to so they have smaller files.

My server is a BEAST by most people's standards.  I have a Dual Xeon X5690 with 96GB of RAM and the ability to use up to 48 3.5" Drives.  It's a few years old but it still puts a lot of stuff that people are buying to shame, I still don't want to transcode which is why I suggest H264.  You can grab Handbrake for free and use it to convert files to the format but you can not take and rip files using it.  Sorry that is something for you to google as I don't want to have someone talking about copyrights and all that stuff or dealing with it on here.

You could also take a DVD or BluRay player and some movies along that way, pretty much anything that uses HDMI should work without issue.  I am just a geek and like to go over the top for some stuff because of the convenience factor involved. 

 

FYI I believe they were saying SanDisk and autocorrect got in the way to call it "scan disk".  It's a brand of flash drive and again it will likely not work plugged into the tv's on the ship.  I have never tried because I carry a few things on my tablet and use my Raspberry PI for goofing around.  Most smart TV's can take the video files and play them but "hospitality" tv's will generally have that turned off as they do not want you messing with stuff or potentially introducing something that will damage their devices.

[Linda R]

11 hours ago, YOLO said:

What is a scan disc and how do they work?

A flash drive.  Thumb drive. Like you can download pictures on. It is small.  I think scan disc is a brand.

[mk-ultra]

16 hours ago, Linda R said:

A flash drive.  Thumb drive. Like you can download pictures on. It is small.  I think scan disc is a brand.

Looks like an auto-correct fail.  I believe they were referring to "SanDisk."

[Linda R]

5 hours ago, mk-ultra said:

Looks like an auto-correct fail.  I believe they were referring to "SanDisk."

oops

[Colombia20102018]

Not exactly about downloads but I heard that with the internet package one can use the RC app to stream movies and shows on the tv. Does anyone have experience doing this? 

[Ampurp85]

1 hour ago, Colombia20102018 said:

Not exactly about downloads but I heard that with the internet package one can use the RC app to stream movies and shows on the tv. Does anyone have experience doing this? 

The RC app doesn't have any entertainment on it.....other what will be playing in certain venues.

[Colombia20102018]

12 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

The RC app doesn't have any entertainment on it.....other what will be playing in certain venues.

What I heard is that with the app one can cast movies on the tv in the room from other apps on the phone such as Netflix, etc. 

[MamaG]

Just to reply to my own question. For our 7 day cruise we downloaded multiple movies and shows on 2 tablets. My teens used it more than we did. Turns out there's not a lot for the teens to do at night.. especially if they're like mine who stay up later. My 15yo walked around at night by himself for an hour or so after dinner and my 13yo watched movies till he fell asleep. They tried the teen lounge, but most of the other teens were obnoxious and they didn't care to spend time around them. So the movie downloads turned out to be a good idea. 

[MuttMutt]

On 4/1/2022 at 6:46 PM, Colombia20102018 said:

Not exactly about downloads but I heard that with the internet package one can use the RC app to stream movies and shows on the tv. Does anyone have experience doing this? 

If it's available I would say it would only be on the newest ships and that is a big IF because I have never heard anything about it.  I would also say if because it would then cut into Royal's rental services that are available on some of the ships.  Now if you have the internet package you should be able to stream to your phone or tablet but I have not tried that at all, I rarely keep any streaming service long enough for it to matter.  I have done a couple livestreams to YouTube while on the ships though and those have mostly been ok though not perfect.

[Colombia20102018]

13 hours ago, MuttMutt said:

If it's available I would say it would only be on the newest ships and that is a big IF because I have never heard anything about it.  I would also say if because it would then cut into Royal's rental services that are available on some of the ships.  Now if you have the internet package you should be able to stream to your phone or tablet but I have not tried that at all, I rarely keep any streaming service long enough for it to matter.  I have done a couple livestreams to YouTube while on the ships though and those have mostly been ok though not perfect.

This is what I am referring to:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/blog/5-ways-royal-caribbeans-app-changes-cruising/

[whitsmom]

22 minutes ago, Colombia20102018 said:

This is what I am referring to:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/blog/5-ways-royal-caribbeans-app-changes-cruising/

What other ships besides Odyssey have this feature?  We are on the Harmony (July) and Jewel (August).

 

[AshleyDillo]

1 hour ago, whitsmom said:

What other ships besides Odyssey have this feature?  We are on the Harmony (July) and Jewel (August).

Wonder has it I believe, although I didn't try it on my last cruise. 

Oasis had the digital key option added in 2019 but I don't think the staterooms were updated with the tech to control other features in the room outside of the key and the TV. I didn't try streaming when I was on Oasis but I did use the digital key and the TV controls.

[SpicyCherry]

7 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

Wonder has it I believe, although I didn't try it on my last cruise. 

Oasis had the digital key option added in 2019 but I don't think the staterooms were updated with the tech to control other features in the room outside of the key and the TV. I didn't try streaming when I was on Oasis but I did use the digital key and the TV controls.

What about Symphony? Digital Key option? TV?

[AshleyDillo]

4 hours ago, SpicyCherry said:

What about Symphony? Digital Key option? TV?

It didn't have the digital key option when I last sailed her but that was in 2018. Our TV did allow casting to it for streaming if I remember correctly. It was an anomaly that my brother pointed out.  Doesn't mean that things are still the same since that was 4 years ago now.

[SaddenedAlmostDiamondPlusM]

I’ve been downloading movies & my go-to-sleep shows for years for all sorts of travel. Royal use to have decent TV programming but that went away years ago so I carry a wide variety on my phone. The last few cruises we also got the Surf & Stream and we were able to watch /stream movies from Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+,etc. Streaming worked beautifully. (I fall asleep to the drone of shows/movies on my phone otherwise wouldn’t likely need it on a ship.) 

[whitsmom]

I download quite a lot of shows and movies on my iPad for the airport, airplane, and ship.  We get the VOOM but I find that it is very convenient just to have it already downloaded. 

[YOLO]

FYI, I was able to watch my full resolution 1080P MKV movie media files on the in room TV w/o any problem during my recent Anthem cruise.  Here is what I took on my trip:

1. A 512GB uSD memory card containing my HD MKV files. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09B1HMJ9Z)
2. A HP x360 Chromebook and BT mouse.
3. A USB-C to HDMI cable. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075V5JK36)
4. A cheap universal remote control. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product)

This setup worked perfectly.  The apps I used to the play the movies were either MX Player or VLC.  I like both of these players.  My choice is MX Player, but if a media files doesn't play (usually due to the wrong codec) then almost always VLC will play it.  We managed to watch all 4 Lethal Weapon movies on this cruise.  I like to take lots of movies with us, because we never know what we will be in the mood for.  Glad to have found this option as opposed to renting movies from Royal for $11.99 each.

Like others have mention above, using VOOM to stream is not a good solution.  That is true in fact of trying to screen mirror from a phone/tablet/laptop to the TV since by doing that you are also relying on VOOM.  Remember, the solution above allows for full resolution HD (as if you were watching an HD Blu Ray) through a hardwired connection.  Nice! 

[YOLO]

@MuttMutt  Thanks again for all of the raspberry pi information.  Once I started to research this hardware option to play movies, I wondered if there might not be a cheaper solution.  As it turns out, there are some small and cheap media players where uSD or USB files can be played.  I wonder if you ever tried something like this?  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WPY8VKL

Since I am only taking the Chromebook on the cruise to play movies, as smaller solution like this would be awesome if it worked.

FYI, Your media server is a beast!  Sounds like fun stuff.  For me I have 4 Synology NAS boxes.  1 main, 2 backup, 1 portable.  Since I do not do any transcoding - I play the files in full resolution.  My NAS media server can do that just fine.  I use Plex on my NVIDIA Shield to play my movies - all of which are hardwired together.  It works.

[BrianB]

I use an iPad to stream Prime, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube etc…..so far onboard the Anthem, Oasis and now the Wonder, I have had no problem streaming movies during the evening. I have had some issues when the ship was going through stormy weather where the internet was interrupted, or even one time where the entire fleet wide service was shut down for over a day. So, to prepare for this, I now have downloaded movies and shows on my iPad before boarding, just in case the Voom goes out.

[whitsmom]

38 minutes ago, BrianB said:

I use an iPad to stream Prime, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube etc…..so far onboard the Anthem, Oasis and now the Wonder, I have had no problem streaming movies during the evening. I have had some issues when the ship was going through stormy weather where the internet was interrupted, or even one time where the entire fleet wide service was shut down for over a day. So, to prepare for this, I now have downloaded movies and shows on my iPad before boarding, just in case the Voom goes out.

This is what I do.  I like to download stuff that way I can watch on the plane, airport, cabin. balcony or where ever.  I mainly watch at night to wind down before sleeping and early morning if I wake up early and everyone else is still asleep.